This invention deals with artificial eyes and blanks from which such eyes are manufactured. Artificial eyes are used in manufacturing toys, taxidermy work, and other varied uses, the most prevalent use of artificial eyes being for stuffed toy animals, baby dolls, and for taxidermy work.
Taxidermists mount animal head skins over molded animal head manikins, such as deer head manikins. The manikins are usually manufactured from dense foamed materials and are configured for the particular animal being mounted by the taxidermist. Thus, the manikins have nose openings, eye sockets, and the like and the taxidermist must: supply the materials and means by which these openings are rendered realistic.
For eye sockets, the taxidermist uses artificial eyes and mounts the eyes using modeling clay or other anatomy contouring materials. The taxidermist must be skilled in that, the eyes must be mounted with regard to natural appearance, which means that with deer eyes there must be a nictitating membrane present on the eye, and the nictitating membrane must be in the proper orientation.
A nictitating membrane is the thin membrane found in many animals at the inner angle or beneath the lower lid of the eye and capable of extending across the eyeball. To enhance the realism of a mounted animal head, it is preferable that the artificial eye, such as the artificial deer eye, include a feature corresponding to the nictitating membrane found in the live animal. Nictitating membrane features for artificial deer eyes have previously been implemented using thin black strips, usually formed from plastic in the crescent shape of a natural nictitating membrane. The nictitating membrane piece is mounted by the taxidermist, along with the artificial deer eye itself, into the animal head manikin. The positioning and securing of the artificial eye and the nictitating membrane piece in the correct anatomical position in the animal head manikin demands considerable time and skill of the taxidermist.
In one prior art approach to supplying nictitating membranes for artificial eyes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,895, issued on Apr. 7, 1998 to John Rinehart, discloses that such nictitating membranes can be colored into the artificial eye blank, by using glass glazes and the like.
Yet another approach to providing nictitating membranes for artificial eyes is to mold the nictitating membrane into the artificial eye blank when the blank itself is molded.
Thus, the processes set forth in the prior art result in artificial eyes having nictitating membranes that are permanently affixed to the artificial eye blank. Taxidermists using such artificial eyes still have to deal with the problem of the proper orientation of the artificial eye during the taxidermy of the animal head.
The present invention overcomes such problems, along with other related problems in the use of artificial eyes that include nictitating membranes.